We need to protect neighborhoods
Neighborhoods are the reason people live in the city. Preserving the character and integrity of neighborhoods protects the investment of people who have lived here for years. It also attracts young families, who will help keep our schools open and raise the children who will take care of our city decades from now.
Cut-through traffic
The number one problem neighborhoods have had – for at least the past 20 years – is cut-through traffic. We cannot stop cut-through traffic, but we can slow it down. Slowing it down will also help deter it. As we fix our streets we need to go the extra mile and install traffic calming measures in those neighborhoods with cut-through traffic problems. Proven measures include traffic circles, speed humps, speed tables, and chokers. Studies show such measures slow traffic through neighborhoods. Studies also show that property values in residential areas increase as traffic speeds decrease.
Calming primary roads
Another thing we can do about cut-through traffic is to calm the primary roads adjacent to neighborhoods, to reduce their impact on those neighborhoods. Traverse City should be a place where people live first, and a place people drive through on the way to somewhere else second. If we slow the design speeds on all our roads, then more drivers will understand this is our home, not just a highway corridor, and their expectations about how quickly they should be able to buzz through our town will change. Reducing design speeds on primary roads will reduce the noise burden on adjacent neighborhoods. Every 1 mph reduction in traffic speed reduces noise by 0.2 decibels. Reducing design speeds will also make us safer. A person hit by a car traveling 20 mph has an almost 95% better chance of surviving than a person hit by a car traveling 50 mph.
Commercial activities
The other thing you hear about protection of neighborhoods is the encroachment of commercial activities. Commercial uses should be restricted to the periphery of neighborhoods. In the portions of commercial districts next to neighborhoods, we should regulate noise, size, hours, traffic, etc., to reduce the influence of the edges of commercial areas on the edges of residential areas.
5 comments
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May 16, 2010 at 6:34 am
Janet Fleshman
If cut-through and noisy fast roads are the major problems facing neighborhoods, and I agree they are, then why where the repaving plans made for Cass and Union without regard to either? What a wasted opportunity.
May 17, 2010 at 5:20 pm
chrisbzdok
Janet – I agree. We need to do better.
May 18, 2010 at 7:54 am
Janet Fleshman
And I’ll spell better.
April 26, 2010 at 9:28 pm
Katrina Graves
We need to make neighborhoods more efficient to people and families im sure not all families feel safe in their neighborhood. people need to learn to care about there homes. they may not have alot of money and thats fine who cares if your rich or poor but taking care of your garbage and making your yard look nice it doesnt take long to pick things up. i think that we need to have more security as well theres no reason for people to feel uncomfortable in there house or neighborhood we should be able to trust our neighbors and alot of us cant. why cant we all get along and come together.
December 7, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Karl Brockmiller
Regarding the subject of TC neighborhoods – I live on Washington Street and see areas/issues that need to be addressed. They are:
Multi-unit rentals – there are several around us and they are all dumps. The renters do not care – they have no equity in the neighborhood and will be moving on in six months. Property owners need to be held accountable. Not only do these places effect surrounding property values they also reflect poorly on some of the most visable and historic neighborhoods TC has to offer.
Alley’s – people use the allies as dumping grounds. I see everything from yard waste to furniture and electronics piled up in the allies. Renters move out and half thier junk ends up in the alley for someone else to clean-up…ususally several months later. Do we live in Buckley or Traverse City?
Thank you,
Karl Brockmiller